Assessment of CMR Feature-Tracking Age- and Sex-Dependent Right Ventricular Strain in a Healthy Caucasian Cohort

Right ventricular (RV) strain offers crucial diagnostic insights in cardiovascular and pulmonary disorders. Nonetheless, the absence of established reference values impedes its clinical implementation. Utilizing CMR-feature tracking, age- and gender-dependent RV strains were systematically assessed in 175 heart-healthy Caucasians, 97 females, median 32.5 years. RV global longitudinal strain (GLS) was greater in females than males (median -26.8% (-28.3;-24.1) vs. -24.4 ± 3.0%; p < 0.001), whereby radial and circumferential strain remained comparable. Age subgroups exhibited increased RV-GLS for group B (30–50 years) (-26.0 ± 3.1% vs. -24.4 ± 3.2%; p = 0.011) and group C (> 50 years) (-26.7 ± 2.3% vs. -24.4 ± 3.2%; p < 0.001) compared to group A (< 30 years). High intra-class correlation coefficients (ICC) were exhibited by intrarater variability (ICC = 0.86–0.95) and moderate levels for interrater variability (ICC = 0.50–0.73). CMR-feature tracking provides a fair quantification method of age- and gender-specific normal RV strain values, demonstrating that higher RV-GLS is linked to female gender and advancing age within a healthy Caucasian cohort.

Graphical Abstract

Right-ventricular global longitudinal strain, assessed by cardiac MRI feature-tracking, increases with the female sex and advancing age within a Caucasian cohort of healthy subjects (N = 175)